Holmes: A primer on education reform

Sunday

Mar 16, 2014 at 12:45 AM

Rick HolmesOpinions editor

Education should be simple. Just start with the things about child-raising nearly every parent knows:1. Exploring and learning are as natural for kids as breathing.2. There are certain things children should learn if they are to grow into successful adults.3. Every kid is different.So school should be fun, free, and creative, nurturing the whole child. There should be a basic curriculum, and a way to measure whether students are learning it and how well schools are teaching it. Each child should get the instruction she needs, tailored to her particular learning style, abilities and interests.But it’s not that simple, of course.We’re into a new round of debates over education reform, and the flashpoints illustrate how these basic values clash. The issues are further complicated by politics, money and stubborn tradition.The standards movement, which has been central to education reform for the last 20 years, is about establishing a basic curriculum – skills and knowledge that every child should acquire – and standardized tests to determine which students and schools are succeeding.Done right, the tests align with the curriculum: "Teaching to the test" is the same as making sure students have absorbed the lessons. The changes to the SAT just announced, for instance, are designed to make it less a measure of raw intelligence, and align its questions with the Common Core, a detailed set of learning expectations now adopted by 45 states.Done right, standardized tests identify the needs of students as individuals. They are diagnostic, and should be no more stressful than an annual physical exam – and shame on teachers and parents who paint them as instruments of punishment.But not everything worth knowing can fit in a standardized test. The old-fashioned report card, with teachers’ comments on each child’s strengths, needs and behavior, is every bit as important as a test score.And shame on those educators who, in the name of raising achievement in reading, math and science, have pushed art, music, gym class and extra-curricular activities out of the school day. That’s not teaching the whole child.Done wrong, standards and testing can turn the classroom from a place of discovery to a one of drudgery. Teaching to the Common Core is now being pushed into kindergarten, and even pre-school, with free play giving way to structured instruction. One of the worst things schools can do is take the joy out of learning.It’s possible to find the right balance between shared standards and individualized instruction, academics and enrichment, high expectations and supportive learning communities. Here in Massachusetts, we’ve seen real progress in raising test scores, turning around failing schools and encouraging innovation.But politics and self-interest get in the way, whether it’s teachers unions using political clout to protect the status quo or entrepreneurs mixing private profit with public education. Once they become school superintendents, some of our finest educators become obsessed with their budgets.Liberal mayors in New York and Los Angeles are now trying to close down charter schools, which have been lifesavers for countless children and have proven to be engines of education innovation. More than 50,000 students are on waiting lists for charter placements in Massachusetts, but efforts to raise the cap that prevents new schools from opening in the most troubled school districts are being held back by local officials’ complaints about school aid funding formulas.Then there are those stubborn traditions. By tradition, we group children by age – all the 5-year-olds in kindergarten, all the 12-year-olds in 7th grade – and teach them all the same lesson on the same day, in the same way. By tradition, most schools are locked up in the summer, despite research showing most students lose about two months of educational progress over vacation – with low-income students falling ever further behind.That’s no way to get each kid the education he needs. Students who speak limited English need extra time to keep up. Why not open the school year a month early, and keep them in school an hour longer each day, to give them the intensive language lessons they need? Why do we think we can take children who begin at different starting points, with a wide range of advantages and abilities, give them exactly the same amount of instruction, and expect them to all end up equally educated?Why do we load up kids with homework and send them to empty homes filled with distractions in the early afternoon, instead of letting them study at school, with tutors to answer their questions?Twenty years of effort and experimentation have shown that while education might not be simple, it’s possible to have better schools and better-prepared kids. It’s up to the adults to shed traditions like the six-hour school day, treat students as individuals, stop quarreling over money and make it happen.Rick Holmes, opinion editor for the Daily News, blogs at Holmes & Co. (http://blogs.wickedlocal.com/holmesandco). He can be reached at rholmes@wickedlocal.com.

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